Read Between the Lines
by Beeria
Summary: Cloud x Aerith? Cloud x Tifa? Who did he really love?


**Important**

Okay, this is a more in-depth look at the love triangle that involves Aerith, Cloud, and Tifa. Mostly centring around Cloud(since he's in the middle of them) I've tried not to be too biased, although I'll admit I am a fierce Clorith fan. The reason I'm doing this is I'm sick of writers here slagging the rival female off in order to get their favourite pairing with Cloud. As much as I wish it wasn't true, the truth is, at some point or another **he loved them both** that's why the game manual says it's a love triangle. If he chose one girl instantly, with no involvement with the other, then it wouldn't be a triangle. There is always going to be a divide between CloTi and Clorith but I hope that this fic will bring both sides to an understanding as to why people support each pairing. Cloriths won't like the CloTi evidence and vice versa but, in my opinion, if you're going to write on here, you have to credit the game. I have tried to make everyone here as IC as they were in the game and movie. Parts in italics are accurate evidence from the game/movie. (I think its just the game actually lol) No matter which one you support, please take in each point! Thanks.

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Read Between the Lines**

The blonde stared down at the ruins of Midgar with no expression painted on his pale, young face, the only sound in the air was the rumble of the motorcycle that rumbled beneath him as he sat, deep in thought. Beside him, a tall, thick sword stood. Its point buried deep in the ground. Sometimes, he liked to come here to think things over. To remember the friends he had lost. Unconsciously, his hand travelled to the pink ribbon that was tied around his arm, his fingers travelling over the material. He always thought of Aerith somehow or another. There were just so many reminders surrounding him; the Church, flowers, Midgar even Marlene reminded him of the cheerful flower girl. There had always been an atmosphere of innocence surrounding her and her eyes held her mystery. It was impossible not to like her. She was just the sort of person where the only thing you could hate about her was the fact you could not hate her. Her death had affected them all.

"_Aerith always talked about the future." Tifa said sadly, looking to the polished floor of the Highwind and scuffing her foot lightly against it._

"_Even though she's not here, she left us a window of opportunity." Nanaki sighed, shaking his head mournfully. A sombre air suddenly surrounded the Avalanche members as they remembered their fallen friend._

"_Aerith…" Cloud muttered, hiding his face behind his hair. "She was smiling until the end." He looked up at the team who were watching him silently. "We have to do something. Or that smile…that smile will just freeze there."_

The image of her smile as Sephiroth slipped his sword through her back remained vivid in his mind. He let out another sigh, switching off the ignition as his eyes fell upon the sword beside him. Zack's sword. Zack was the hero. Zack was the one who should be standing here right now. Zack was always a believer in keeping promises, being there for the ones he loved and cared about. He would never have stood by and watch Aerith die. He wouldn't have succumbed to Sephiroth's power and attempt to kill her himself.

_Cloud walked over to the platform, his eyes glancing across the water. There she was, sitting in the middle of the platform across the lake._

"…_Aerith…" he whispered softly. His two companions immediately took their place next to him, ready to join him in approaching her. However, Cloud held out his hand, indicating that he wanted to do this alone._

_Slowly, he leapt from each little platform until he reached the large alter where Aerith was kneeling in prayer. She looked so peaceful, her eyes closed, her hands clasped and a barely visible frown of concentration._

_Suddenly, his mind went completely blank and his body stepped forward of its own accord. His hand reached up, grasping the hilt of his sword, slowly pulling it out. His eyes dulled and turned from to green. Sephiroth's voice echoed repeatedly in his mind, demanding that he kill Aerith._

_Cloud felt his arm lift, aiming the sword so it would hit her neck. As if in slow motion, he watched his sword swing back, ready for the act._

"_Cloud!"_

"_What are you doing?"_

_The shouts of his companions broke through the mist that covered his brain. Sephiroth's voice disappeared and slowly, realisation set in as he stared at Aerith. She hadn't moved at all. He turned his eyes towards the heavens._

"_What were you trying to make me do?" he cried, shaking his head slightly._

_Aerith suddenly opened her eyes and looked up at him. Their eyes locked for a split second before her lips turned up into a smile. It was a closed lip smile but Cloud still stared at her, guilt and sadness at what he had almost done noticeable in his eyes._

_Then, Sephiroth descended._

_The cool metal pushed through her back and through her stomach. Cloud stood in shock, so many emotions ran through his brain at once, he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be feeling. He found his eyes moving up ever so slightly to look into the smirking jade eyes of Sephiroth as he slowly pulled the sword out of her, deliberately causing her pain. Her body jerked back, the ribbon that held her braid falling from her hair, followed by the White Materia._

_Cloud rushed forward, catching her body as it slumped forward. The dull thud of the Materia as it bounced across the alter and down the platforms meant nothing to him as he held Aerith in his arms. He knew she was dead. She would have died almost instantly._

"_Do not worry, soon the girl will join the lifestream," said Sephiroth, sheathing his weapon. "All that is left is to go North where the promised land awaits. There, I will become one with the Planet, as will this girl."_

"_Shut up!" Cloud hissed. "The cycle of life and you're **stupid** plan! They don't mean a thing! Aerith is gone! She will never laugh, cry, or get angry again. What about us? What are WE supposed to do? My eyes are burning, my fingers are trembling. My mouth is dry."_

_Sephiroth scoffed. "Are you telling me you have feelings?"_

_Cloud gently placed Aerith down and turned to face his enemy._

"_Of course I have feelings! What do you think I am?"_

The members of Avalanche knew that Aerith's death had affected him the most. It was clear from the way he almost instantly trusted her. He remembered Cait Sith's prophecies. The first two had been rubbish, something about his favourite colour being blue or something. There was one though, that remained clear in his memory, one that he thought of every night since Aerith's death.

"_What you pursue will be yours but you will lose something dear"_

He remembered dismissing it like the others but the moggle was intrigued. Cloud never doubted what Cait Sith said again. After all, they had gotten what they had pursued. They had found and defeated Sephiroth but it was at the cost of Aerith's life. Would Aerith still be here if he had paid attention to the prophecy? Would they have been together? Cait Sith seemed to think so anyway.

"_Looks good! Cloud's star and Aerith's star…you're perfect for each other."_

He knew that if his mother was here now, she would approve of Aerith too. She had always wanted him to settle down, even when he was training for SOLDIER.

"_You should have an older girlfriend. One who will take care of you."_

He had gotten over his little crush on Tifa at that point, forcing himself to remember the way she had treated him. She was always with a gang that were immature in his opinion. It wasn't until she was seven years old that she first ever paid attention to him. And that was just for an hour before the incident on the bridge.

"_That was the first time I had been in your house."_

Yes, for childhood friends, he had not been in her house once until she was seven years old, the day her mother died. However, he forgave her when she agreed to meet him by the well that night. He remembered how he had pushed the memory of the promise he had made to Tifa aside. He hated doing it, lying about it when she first asked because, truth be told, the memory of that promise was very dear to him. It was the turning point in their relationship. It allowed them to start again. Maybe she was just doing it because all the other boys were left but he doubted even the richest girl in Nibelheim was that self-centred.

"_Sorry I'm late," the young girl said as she appeared around the back of the old well._

"_I thought you weren't coming." Cloud replied shyly. It was dark and the stars were shining brightly as they sat for a moment in silence. Tifa watched her legs kick the air for a moment._

"_So…?" the girl started a little awkwardly but Cloud quickly interrupted her._

"_Come next spring, I'm leaving for Midgar to go to SOLDIER." For a moment, the girl looked at him before she looked down._

"_All the boys are leaving," she replied with a sad sigh._

"_But I'm different!" the boy cried, standing up and moving around the steps of the well. "I'm going to be like Sephiroth!" He climbed up the steps until he was leaning over the wall, looking down at her. Tifa looked up, meeting his eyes _

"_Sephiroth? The great Sephiroth?" she repeated with surprise. Cloud nodded, their eyes still locked._ _Again, there was silence as she looked ahead of her. After a moment, she looked back at him with a wide smile._

"_Ok, but you've got to make a promise."_

"_A promise?" he repeated, tilting his head to the side. The brunette nodded, her smile turning into a grin._

"_If you get famous and I'm ever in a bind, promise that you'll come for me."_

"_What?" Cloud cried out in shock, his cheeks heating up at the very thought of rescuing his secret crush._

"_Come on, I've always wanted to experience that," she begged. "Promise me!" _

_Cloud smiled a little. _"_Ok. I promise."_

The blonde sighed softly. He had come here to think. Tifa had finally given in and demanded that he decided what he really wanted. He could weep over a dead flower girl or he could move in with her. She said he could take as long as he needed to think it over, decide which girl he really loved.

This would have been so easy when he was a teenager. His answer would have came without question.

_Tifa looked around the lifestream, wondering if Cloud finally remembered who he was. _

"_I was trying to impress someone," Cloud muttered, facing away from her. Tifa frowned, remembering he had said a second ago that he had joined Soldier for more than one reason._

"_Who?" she asked softly._

"…_You."_

In many people's eyes, it would be so much easier to choose Tifa, fairer. She had looked after him while he lay, unable to move, unable to speak in the lifestream. She had stayed by his side the whole time.

_Cloud stared silently at the Highwind, knowing everyone had gone off to discover their reasons for fighting. Tifa stayed with him. After all, Nibelheim had been destroyed. Tifa shifted nervously._

"_You probably don't remember this..." she whispered. "But when we were in the Lifestream surrounded by all those screams of anguish, I thought I heard your voice...But deep in my heart I heard you calling my name... Or at least I thought I did..."_

_Cloud turned to face her. "I see. I think I've heard it, too." He glanced away for a moment. "Then, it was Tifa's voice."_ _For a moment, he had thought it was someone else…_

Slowly, Cloud rubbed his temples. Tifa may have helped him through the lifestream but that didn't change the fact that she had lied to him about who he was or how they weren't childhood friends.

"_No matter how close we are now... We were far apart before."_

She had had so many chances to tell him that he was pretending to be Zack, that his memories were mixed up. She didn't. Aerith, who had known him for a few months was the one who originally got the cogs turning in his mind as they went on their date.

"_Cloud, I'm searching for you."_

"…_?"_

"_I want to meet you."_

"_But I'm right here."_

_(I know, I know. What I mean is…) "I want to meet…you."_

Aerith had continued to see right through his "Zack" moments but he knew she hadn't said anything because she didn't think it was her place. He gazed again at the sword beside him, knowing that at least Zack was there with her in the Promised Land.

"_Cloud? What rank were you?"_

"_Rank?"_

"_In Soldier"_

"_Oh…I was…" he paused for a moment. "First Class"_

"_The same as him"_

"_Same as who?"_

"_My first boyfriend"_

"_You were…serious?"_

"_No. But I did like him a lot."_

Cloud ran a gloved hand through his blonde hair. Had the love triangle really started as far back as then? To be honest, half the time he was completely oblivious to their affections. He supposed he must have confused them just as much. After all, one minute he was dressing up as a woman to save his childhood friend and the next, he was storming the ShinRa building to rescue a flower girl who had only just met earlier that day.

"_I knew Cloud would come for me!"_

"_Hey, I'm your bodyguard."_

He shook his head, as he started the ignition. He had made his choice. He slowly steered the bike in the opposite direction, taking a deep breath. Tifa had told him he had to choose or not come back. She was tired of waiting. So…he was not going back. Truth was, whenever he was with Tifa it felt like he was betraying Aerith and when he visited or thought about Aerith, it felt like he was betraying Tifa! He couldn't choose.

He loved them both.

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End file.
